Backstroke swimmers start their swims in the water with their backs to the swim lane, they put their feet on the pool wall or the timing touch pad should it be installed in front of the wall and they hold themselves up with handles outside the water which are provided by starting blocks. During the start preparation phase they pull themselves up and at the start signal they let go of the handles and push themselves off with their feet. An ideal start has the swimmer coming out of the water, arching back and diving back into the water in a small as possible “hole” in the water to have the least resistance. After the dive in they kick under water as far as they can before they resurface to continue the swim with their arms and feet. The stronger the start force is, the faster the swimmer starts and the further advanced he or she is compared to other swimmers in the underwater phase.
This movement sequence leads to resulting forces that the swimmer puts forth towards the pool wall or timing touch pad. In the horizontal plane the force is mostly perpendicular and moreover that angle is in control of the swimmer. In the vertical plane however there is an angle to the resulting force that is less than 90 degrees; a typical value would be 60-70 degrees. That means a substantial part of the force, the component parallel to the pool wall or timing touch pad, needs to be led into the pool wall or timing touch pad by friction.
That means swimmers encounter an acute problem of possibly slipping when they prepare for the start and then push off during the start. Therefore the fear of slipping at the critical start time prevents many swimmers from exerting their full potential force during the start which reduces performance in races and training.
Materials with high friction coefficient as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,799 are successfully used to alleviate some of the fear and improve the start forces, but have only a limited effect.
The problem of the vertical force parallel to the pool wall or timing touch pad has been solved well by a starting assist device for backstroke swimmers as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,583 by Davidson. It provides support to the feet of swimmers during the start of a swim through foot supporting means and means for positioning the foot support means which in a described preferred embodiment is a foot rest in essentially wedge form held by straps. It can be positioned to the height desired by the swimmers and be removed in less than 10 seconds. This device provides the necessary means to lead the vertical parallel force via the straps into the pool deck and thus provide a stable platform for backstroke swimming starts.
Once a swimmer has started, it is important that the starting device is removed quickly within 10 seconds or less to remove the protrusion provided by the foot rest which might injure the swimmer when coming back in the lane for a backstroke turn or which may interfere with the timing touch pad of an automated swim timing system.
In the currently known embodiments the starting device is taken out by hand by people on the pool deck such as swim officials or helpers.
The adjustment of the desired height is performed either through buckles which allow to control the length of the straps or in the case of the embodiment described in the brochure by Myrtha 2013 a bar member is hooked into the openings of a starting block containing several holes to provide closer and further distance from the pool edge, thus making the height of the foot rest adjustable within certain limits.
There are several problems with such embodiments; some of them are listed below:
                For removal of the starting assist device a person besides the swimmer is needed to remove it after the swimmer has left. If there is no person besides the swimmer available this makes the use of the device impossible, for example during training. Even if a person is available, if the device does not get removed due to lack of attentiveness, serious issues due to the protrusion as described above can result.        In the case of the Myrtha embodiment a bar member outside the reach of a swimmer in the water of the pool needs to be positioned on a starting block. When help is lacking a swimmer can perceivably adjust the start assist device outside the pool and try the adjustment out in the pool but that is very cumbersome.        In the case of the Davidson embodiment the straps are lengthened or shortened by buckles which is cumbersome as well. In a race or training environment with many swimmers, where every swimmer needs to adjust the position to their individual needs this is a serious shortcoming.        
The current invention targets one or more of said problems.